A Mutant's Life is Never Simple
by Coffeehouse Angel
Summary: Phoenix is only seventeen. And her mother has been dead for two years. But the pain is still fresh, like it was only yesterday. (Quite literally too!) Phoenix seeks revenge, although her quiet, innocent looks betray her true deadly intentions. But when you're a teen with a complicated love life, well, it's never that simple to avenge your mother. Rated T for minimal language.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**

**So, rather obviously, this story is set up after Nevermore. I'm planning on making this only a couple of chapters because currently I'm working on my other fan-fic _Who Says Love Isn't Painful?_** **Be sure to check it out!**

**Anyways, I enjoyed writing this because I got to stretch my creativity a little more than usual. =)**

**Don't forget to review, favorite, follow, tell your friends...etc.**

**Thanks in advance!**

**Enjoy!**

**-CHA**

* * *

Life's tough.

I learned that early on.

My mom taught me everything she knew about being strong.

But she's gone now. She's with the angels. I think she's lucky she has wings. Otherwise, won't she fall from the clouds?

I miss her a lot. But I'm brave for her sake.

My name is Phoenix Ride.

Two years ago, my mom died suddenly. My Uncle Ari killed her in her sleep. Then Ari disappeared too, Dad says Ari's dead, but I'm waiting for the day when I can avenge my mother's death.

A mutant's life really isn't simple.

Mom used to say that all the time.

* * *

It's the night of prom. I don't want to go, but Nudge and Aunt Angel want me to go have fun. They even volunteered to buy me a dress and do my make-up.

I'm standing in front of the full length mirror in my bathroom. The mirror's foggy and I wipe away the fog to see a girl wearing a long, strapless silver number. Her auburn hair is loose and flowing, a dusting of silvery powder on her eyelids. Her strange electric blue eyes clash with her pale, ebony skin. She walks unsteadily on tall, glossy, heels.

Is this girl me?

I'm no longer sure.

Where are the girl's sweatshirts and jeans? Where are her tattered sneakers?

Only one thing remains untouched. A silver chain dangles from my neck, painstakingly created by my mother's hands.

Wouldn't my mother be proud, if she saw me tonight?

I hesitantly open the bathroom door and step into the bedroom, where Nudge and Aunt Angel are waiting.

"You look gorgeous, Nix!" My aunt Nudge gushes. "Oh, if only I brought some of my jewelry! You would look even more amazing. Don't you think, Angel?"

"Hush, can't you see she's overwhelmed?" Aunt Angel reprimands. "You look beautiful, Phoenix."

"Thanks, Aunt Angel and Nudge."

I smile tentatively, having inherited my father's quiet personality

Its dark out by the time the dance starts. Lee picks me up, pinning a small white flower in my hair when I get in the car.

The auditorium is dim and a disco ball twirls above the dance floor, sending sparks of light flashing above people's faces. Lee laughs at my expression and pulls me over to the dance floor. My hands go around his neck, and his hands slip onto my waist. We move slowly in time to the soft music.

Lee's my first boyfriend. His father grew up in a lab too. I was told that Lee's dad fancied my mom, but it didn't work out in the end anyways.

I can feel the heat emanating off his body. A soft laundry like smell lingers on his skin. His heart beats, thrumming in time with the music. I lean into him, still swaying together to the music.

"You look lovely tonight." Lee breathes into my ear.

I smile, moving closer to him.

We dance until it's late. I hadn't even eaten dinner yet.

"Are you hungry?" Lee whispers, leading me to sit on the couches placed around the room.

The music turns up, playing loud pop music while scantily dressed girls dance about, flirting with the cute boys laughing in the corner.

"I guess." I murmur, placing my head on his shoulder.

We leave for a nearby restaurant, Lee grasping my hand tightly the whole time. I was happy, for the first time in weeks.

But when I look back at that night, I think, man; I wish I had enjoyed it more while it lasted.

Because as we all know,

A mutant bird kid's life is never that simple.

* * *

**A/N:**

**See that little blue button that reads "Review"? Click and you'll get a cookie! (A virtual one, but still, a cookie is a cookie.)**

**-CHA**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **

**Sorry to have kept you waiting so long for the update. I'm currently mainly working on "Who Says Love Isn't Painful?" right now. But anyways, here it is! Read and review!**

* * *

The restaurant is empty, only a sleepy-looking man slumped over his food in the corner.

Lee orders two bowls of clam chowder and the food arrives quickly.

I dig in, momentarily forgetting my manners.

Lee chuckles, his eyes twinkling brightly.

"For such a sweet, reserved, girl, you eat enough to fill a truck." He teases.

"Are you calling me a truck, Lee?" I reply, throwing an oyster cracker at him.

Lee catches it nimbly, before tossing it into his mouth.

"Sure. I've never seen a more beautiful truck in all my life though." Lee laughs, brushing a strand of hair out my eyes.

We playfully banter until a group of well-dressed men walk in. They were too formal for a normal outing. I recognize them as the School's henchmen.

Damn it.

Immediately, I tense, going on high-alert.

The too formally-dressed men chose a table that I calculate as a perfect angle of attack. We couldn't get past them, because the way their table was positioned. If we tried anything, they could easily stop us. The only way out was to vault over their table or break through the window. Not an easy task.

Lee senses the men and he stiffens as well. We calmly continue to eat, passing careful words between us.

"How was school?" Lee asks, tapping the table five times.

I tap back, answering with a casual, "It was great, same old, same old."

I shake my head just the slightest.

Five taps meant run.

Running would not work.

Out of the corner of my mouth, I whisper, "Left, knock over the guy with a mustache and vault over the table."

Lee's brow furrows, but he taps back; okay.

"Do you like the chowder? It's a little too runny for my taste." He plays along.

"I think it's delicious." I respond.

Before he can answer, I give the signal.

Time to move.

Standing up, Lee announces that he's going to get some water.

I see the men stiffen as well. They're anticipating us.

Quickly, I run some more calculations. Our plan had a sixty percent change of fail. We couldn't risk it.

"Change of plans. Smash through the window." I tap Morse code.

Lee sighs quietly, but nods, obliging.

I'm never wrong.

Exactly 3.52 seconds later, the window explodes in a shower of glass. Lee hurdles through the gap, tearing his shirt and arm. I follow quickly, before the men recover their wits.

An alarm starts; its wailing slicing through the usually quite darkness like a knife.

I try to run, but my heels restrict me. I sigh unhappily as I slip the shoes off, throwing them into the nearby brush.

Ugh, I liked those shoes.

Lee grabs my hand and he yanks me down the street, dodging police cars. The men start after us, effortlessly slipping through the broken glass.

Lee's face is tight and anxious. He winces slightly as his arm collides with me.  
"Are you okay?" I pant, trying not to get tangled in my long dress.

"Cut. Arm. I'm. Fine." He replies, pulling me around a corner.

We hop over a fence and crawl into the safety of the dark shadows. A black-suited man walks past with a pleasant, almost cheerful expression. He carries a lightweight pistol in his hand.

I almost draw in a sharp breath.

They have guns.

We huddle in the brush for an hour, fifty two minutes, and 13.7 seconds. I'm afraid to move even a muscle.

The men finally leave, looking disappointed.

But I know that they will find us again. And this time, they wouldn't fail.

Lee's face is white when he crawls out. His face is scratched and bleeding.

"Are you okay, Nix?" He asks quietly, checking for wounds.

"I'm fine, but you're not." I bite my lip worriedly.

The long gash in his arm is still bleeding profusely. I carefully rip the bottom of my dress into long, silvery, strips before neatly bandaging his arm.

"You need stitches, Lee."

"Well, we can't exactly get to a hospital." Lee snaps tiredly.

"I know, I know, but Aunt Angel would know how to sew it up." I reply, ignoring his remark.

"Fine."

We trudge to my house, ringing the doorbell. The door flings open. Without saying a word, Aunt Nudge ushers us inside, swiftly shutting the door behind us.

"Angel will fix that up." Nudge says, disappearing into a room before I can say anything.

Aunt Angel seats us onto the couch, cleaning the smaller cuts before unwrapping my makeshift bandage.

"I'll stitch that for you."

Angel's quick hands sew the wound up, wrapping another sterile white bandage around his arm when she finishes.

"You have to go." She whispers nervously. "They're looking for you two, we don't know why though. Nudge already prepped up two backpacks. She told me to give you these instructions: Go find Machiavelli. You'll find him in Nevada. You guys will leave tomorrow at six in the morning."

She takes me into the bedroom before I can even process the information and tells me to shower and change.

In a flurry of movement, Nudge throws my beautiful prom dress away, declaring it to be "ruined forever".

They let Lee shower in the guest room, and they offer him some of my dad's old clothes.

I determine it to be exactly eight hours before we leave.

Lee is lying on the couch, looking utterly exhausted when I come out of the bedroom. He smiles at me and mouths good night.

I know I won't sleep at all tonight.

* * *

**A/N: **

**So I have a few other chappy's already written, but it's up to you to get them posted! Once I reach ten reviews, I'll post the next chapter!**

**-CHA**


	3. Chapter 3

**A\N:**

**Heeey, my awesome fanfictioners! Here is the long awaited chapter 3! Please review, otherwise dangerous mutant birdkids will attack you!**

It took me three hours and twenty-seven minutes before I finally fall asleep.

I guess I should probably explain the counting thing.

My mom got the whole "super-speed flight" mutation thing, but I got the most boring power imaginable.

I could do math.

Yippee.

Well, actually, I could do math really well.

I've solved unsolvable algorithms and theories. I can count seconds up to the hundredths. It's like I have an internal clock inside me. When I was younger, I counted time whenever I was nervous. I haven't quite lost that habit yet.

My IQ is supposedly around one-hundred seventy. I've been told one-hundred seventy is genius level, although I'm hardly a genius. If I really was one, I'd probably be rich and living in comfort somewhere along the California coast instead of hiding in my Aunt's house.

I know over thirty languages too. A natural polyglot, or so everyone tells me.

Unfortunately, my intelligence catches a lot of attention from unwanted sources.

Like labs.

After Itex was discovered by the government, everything got complicated and later on, Itex got destroyed.

I wish that was the happy ending.

Seven years later, a few surviving scientists created a new lab called Itexas (Creative name, right?).

Quite a few times, they snared escaped experiments of the old Itex and locked them back up in dog cages.

Maximum Ride was an escapee.

But they didn't catch her.

They want to find out why I have such intelligence. They want to cut open my brain and examine it.

Ever since I was born fifteen years ago, they wanted to capture me.

I'm shy and quiet because I don't want to catch their attention. That's the only reason why I'm still living today.

The next morning I wake up to find a wet and gloomy day outside.

I slip on a pair of jeans and a green V-neck shirt. Fingering the sliver chain around my neck, I consider just shearing off my long auburn hair.

After all, it's really a burden to have hair whipping around your face when you're flying.

I decide against it and just tie it up in a neat ponytail.

Twenty-five minutes and fifteen seconds before we leave.

The bathroom light flicker on when I walk in and I douse my face in cool water.

Twenty-two minutes and thirty seconds before departure.

My eyes roam my room one last time, taking the details into memory.

I would miss my room.

Bravely, I square my shoulders and walk into the kitchen before swiping a few muffins and stuffing them into my mouth. Nudge is waiting by the door, looking tired and dejected.

She's always the cheerful one, but today, there is nothing to be cheerful about.

Lee is already up. His hair is tousled from a night of anxious sleep but he seems well-rested. I gulp down a glass of milk, desperate to do anything to wait until the last minute. I don't want to leave.

Lee gives me a half-hearted smile.

Eighteen minutes and six seconds left.

Aunt Angel and Nudge wrap me in a final, comforting hug. They hand me and Lee two plain black knapsacks.

I dig through the pack and I'm surprised. It all looks brand-new.

A water purifier, a box of matches, a sleeping bag, a first aid kit, a week's worth of dry snacks, a day's change of clothes, and my best buds; two long, black, katana's.

A katana is a Japanese originated weapon. It's elongated, a little curved and sleek.

I slide the katana's into the duel sheathes on my back.

I've taken three years of lessons and my skills are fairly sharp. No pun intended.

Ten minutes and forty three seconds.

I stuff another granola bar in my mouth.

I think my dad didn't even bother to come say bye to me.

My uncles are in Mexico, undertaking an assignment to eliminate one of the new Itexas Labs.

Three minutes and sixteen seconds.

My heart starts to beat a little faster.

I step out the door.

One minute and nine seconds.

I look around me, hoping my dad would come and at least watch me leave.

Twenty-eight seconds.

Twenty-seven seconds.

No more procrastinating.

Lee and I open our wings, taking a running start and taking to the air. It's nice to move my wings after being cramped for so many days.

Ten seconds.

A silver car pulls up on the driveway.

Could it be my dad?

A slim, tall figure steps out. The figure has dark hair and pale skin. He lifts his head to look at me.

He looks weary. He smiles at me and waves. One last goodbye.

He mouths "Avenge Max."

I will.

Fang watches me as I beat my wings.

1.2 seconds left.

I head to the east, where the sun's dimpled cheeks have just risen.

Zero.

_See ya, guys._ I think; my wing tips brushing Lee's as we fly.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:**

**Okay, okay, I'm so sorry I haven't updated in like, a bajillion years! Pwease except my apology? I deleted my other fanfic because it didn't have a strong enough plot, and I was feeling like it was a bit boring. Sorry! Here's a cookie for compensation!(::) Well, here's the next chappy! Yay! **

**-CHA**

* * *

Lee and I pass the time by playing I Spy.

But, I Spy is a bit difficult when you're flying through the air at 80.3 miles per hour. Just sayin'.

The events of last night finally sink in, as I bite my lip in an attempt to control my sudden hysterics. I suppose I should have gotten used to this running thing by now. I mean, I've moved more than fifteen times, not counting the times when we didn't even have a house. Just on the run.

The air feels crisp and clean, unlike the heavily polluted air of the cities I've been to. Unable to stop myself, a small grin spreads across my face. Freedom feels so good. Then I remember that dudes with guns are still after us and my happy mood dies. I really hate being a mutant.

We've been flying quietly, without incident. It's been a while since we've left, well, three hours and eighteen minutes to be exact, and I can feel my wings tiring.

Suddenly, I see a flash of grey in front of my eyes.

At first, I think it's just a random bird, you know, the grey-ish looking kinds of birds. Then I realize the grey isn't moving.

Oh, shit. I thought I had gotten over this mutation!

Like a bad television show flickering to life, the grey flickered into a scene, one that I was familiar with.

And I began to fall.

_"Mama, please, don't make me leave." I cried._

_"This isn't a choice, Phoenix." My mom said stiffly. "We all have to make sacrifices today."_

_The room that once was the scene of a birthday party was now in ruins. It was my seventh birthday and three suited men had burst in. Luckily, our aunts had managed to hide me, and the men didn't find me that day. Streamers were hung neatly across the ceiling, and balloons floated around the room cheerily. But there was a grim tone to this party, as the table was smashed, and my once beautiful cake had fallen onto the floor, the frosting smeared across the ground. The guests had all left in terror, and only Lee was left. _

_"Dad, tell Mama. Tell her we have to at least say goodbye." I said, eerily quiet. _

_My dad was silent as he gently picked me up. _

_"Max, get the emergency backpacks." _

_Suddenly, Uncle Iggy shouted. _

_"Head for cover!"_

_The scene fades into another as I run, our house exploding behind us. _

_This time, the scene is of the night Mama died._

_The room was dark and the windows were shut. My fifteen-year old self stumbled out of bed, a bad feeling sitting in the pit of my stomach. I knew, at the moment, something was going to happen. Something that would change my life. I heard footsteps, then a quiet, anguished, cry. I was on my feet running, already knowing that it was too late. I skidded to a stop before my mother, who lay on the ground, having stumbled out of bed. I was unable to do anything but fall, frozen, as I saw the life fading out of her eyes. My mother's mouth opened, and four words, all but a whisper floated out. _

_"Be brave, like fire."_

_She placed a silver chain into my hand and rather simply, she died._

_My father collapsed beside my mother, shaking in grief and pain._

_"Who did this? Who did this?" I repeated over and over._

_ I'd never felt such deep pain before. I was numb, a dull haze settling into my mind. Before my memory ended, a single tear fell from my eye. _

Faintly, I could hear shouting and clamoring.

"Dammit, Phoenix, wake up!"

"What happened?" I mumbled, my words slurring.

I felt numb, as if my memory had really happened again.

A sudden phantom pain shot through me and I hunched over. I could feel grief overwhelming me. I clutched myself, waiting for the uncontrollable shaking. Lee's arms wrapped around my shoulders, holding me close.

After a minute, I took a breath, the shaking slowing, and I opened my eyes.

The first thing I saw was Lee's very ticked off face. The second thing I realized was that we were on the roof of a random building. I checked my internal time clock. Ah, I had "passed out" for twenty minutes and fifteen seconds. Just fabulous. This little incident was going to get us twenty minutes behind schedule.

"What the hell, Phoenix?! You were flying perfectly fine and then you goddamn just FELL! Did I mention you were flying 200 feet above the ground at the time?" Lee ranted angrily.

"182 feet and seven inches." I muttered.

"What?"

"I82 feet and seven inches. Not 200. You were close."

Lee groaned and he grinned shakily.

"Don't scare me like that again, Nix." He said. "Was it another one of your hallucination memory things?"

"Not right now, Lee. We can talk later." I looked away, feeling a wave of grief dousing me again. "I'm sorry for scaring you."

"S'okay." Lee replied. "Come on, do you think you can keep flying?"

I took to the air, faking a smile.

"Of course, let's go."

Thankfully, Lee didn't notice that during the entire rest of the flight to Nevada, I was crying.

**A/N: **

**I know, it's not the best. Too gloomy for my taste. But next chapter, it'll be better! Some fluffiness too! (Maybe...) **

**Thanks for reading! Review!**


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